Human Rights Award Success – Professor Sharon Pickering

Please join us in congratulating Professor Sharon Pickering who was announced as the winner of the 2012 Human Rights Award in Print and Online Media yesterday (see details below). Another outstanding research achievement to add to a long list. The recognition of the importance and impact of Professor Pickering’s research on borders and migration for human rights fits well with the Monash vision which focuses on research that makes a difference and social justice.

Print and Online Media Award (sponsored by Vibe Australia)

Professor Sharon Pickering and The Conversation Academic Expert Panel on Asylum Seekers series – Series of 14 articles published in The Conversation between June and August 2012. Professor Pickering is one of Australia’s leading criminologists working in the field of migration and border crossings. Following two boat tragedies off Christmas Island in June 2012, she wrote an article entitled, ‘Six issues missing from the Asylum seeker debate,’ for online publication, The Conversation. The Conversation then asked her to lead an expert panel of academics who, using evidence-based research, wrote 14 articles that exposed the realities of asylum seeker issues and advocated for a human rights based response – two of which highlighted failure of the Government’s Houston Expert Panel on Asylum Seekers to consider humanitarian responses.